Wardrobe.



Patented Feb. 20, I900. L. M. ADAM-S.-

WA R D B O B E.

[Application filed Fab. 7, 1899.]

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LIZZIE M. ADAMS, OF PORTLAND, OREGON.

WARDROBE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,737, dated February 20, 1900.

Application filed February 7, 1899- Serial No. 704,810. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, LIZZIE M. ADAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon, have invented a new and useful tVai-drobe, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to portable wardrobes, clothes-presses, and like articles of furniture, and its purpose is to increase the portability of this class of devices by lightening the structure without weakening it in the slightest degree and by having the parts more easily separable and by reducing the parts to the smallest number possible.

A further purpose of the invention is to combine the parts in such relation that the back may be used as'a wrapper for enveloping them when the structure is folded, thereby protecting the parts and preventing their loss.

The invention is also possessed of other advantages, which will appear in the course of the followingdescription, and which will suggest themselves to persons accustomed to the use and handling of articles of this variety.

For a full understanding'of the merits and advantages of the invention reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings and the following description.

The improvement is susceptible of various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof, and to a full disclosure of the invention an adaptation thereof is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a wardrobe constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a front view showing the top and bottom pieces detached from the flexible back and folded against the relatively-fixed side. Fig. 3 is a plan section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 on a larger scale. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the device reduced to a compact form.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

The wardrobe, clothes-press, or like article embodies in its construction a movable side 1,

a fixed side 2, a top 3, bottom 4, and flexible back 5, of canvas, oil-cloth, duck, or like material, said back being permanently attached along its side edges to the rear edges of the sides 1 and 2 by being cemented. thereto, tacked, or made fast in any convenient and substantial manner. The upper and lower edges of the back are separable from the top and bottom, and are detachably connected therewith by having buttonholes 6 formed at intervals in the length of said edge portion and by providing buttons 7 at the rear edges of the parts 3 and 4 to engage with the buttonholes 6. buttonholes any well-known equivalent therefor may be provided, so as to admit of detachable connection of the upper and lower end portions of the'back'from the top and bottom pieces 3 and 4 when it is required to fold the structure into a compact package for handling or storing. The parts 3 and 4 are hinged at one end to the fixed side 2, and are of such a length as to fold close against the side 2 without having their free ends overlapped. These parts 3 and 4 have detachable connection with the movable side 1 and are secured thereto by suitable fastening means, which in the present instance consist of a hook 8 and an eye 9. In order to relieve the fastening means of vertical strain, the movable side 1 is provided with laterally-extending dowel-pins 10, which are adapted to enter corresponding openings in the extremities of the respective parts 3 and 4.

The structure when set up for use is braced by upper and lower shelves 11, which have their end portions fitted into transverse grooves formed in the inner faces of the side pieces 1 and 2. The movable side 1 is held from outward displacement when the device is operatively related by means of the back 5, which is secured to the parts 1 and 2, and by the separable fastenings between the parts 1, 3, and 4. The wardrobe may be suitably ornamented, and, as shown, molding or like trimming is applied to the outer sides of the top and bottom and, when desired, may be attached to the side pieces.

The front may be closed by drapery in any desired Way, and as a means for supporting the curtain 12 a pole 13 is illustrated and has its end portions fitted into brackets 14, applied to the upper ends of the sides 1 and 2.

In lieu of the buttons and Obviously when it is required to fold the structure the pole 13, with its drapery, must be removed, and can be inclosed with the other parts within the back 5 when the latter is used as a wrapper for enveloping the structure in its reduced and folded condition.

When from any cause it is desired to reduce the size of the wardrobe, it is necessary only to remove the pole 13, slip the shelves 11 from their grooves in the sides, and detach the swinging ends of the top 3 and bottom 4: from the movable side 1. The parts 3 and 4 when released are folded inward close against the inner face of the fixed side 2, and the shelves may be placed against said folded top and bottom and the whole protected and held in one package by wrapping the flexible back 5 about them. The reverse of this operation is practiced when it is required to set the wardrobe up for use.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

In a folding wardrobe, in combination, two, upright sides, top and bottom pieces hinged at corresponding ends to one of the sides and having a detachable engagement with the opposite side, and a flexible back of fabric connected permanently along its vertical edges to the sides, and detachably connected along its top and bottom edges to the top and bottom pieces, whereby the top and bottom edges of the fabric may be disconnected from the top and bottom pieces, the latter folded against one of the side pieces and the folded structure rolled in the shape of a bundle within the flexible back which forms a protectingcover therefor, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aifixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

LIZZIE M. ADAMS.

Witnesses:

EDWARD M ORGAN, W. G. KEYS. 

